As set forth by U.S. Pat. No. 8,475,904 to Hawkins et al, blow molded hollow articles with a covering can be made by a conventional, blow molding process by inserting a covering in a blow mold. A carpeted load floor may be formed by placing a carpet in the mold and then inflating a parison to form a hollow article with a bonded carpet on one side and along edges. However, the wrapping of the carpet along the edges is limited to the location of the parting line that is usually placed at the mid-point of the thickness of a part for ease of manufacturing. Thus, the edge wrap does not completely cover the side wall of the molded product, and does not extend onto the rear side of the product. Furthermore, the carpet may be thinned at the corners and edges of the upper surface, which may lead to plastic bleed through or poor carpet appearance.
Hawkins et al, also sets forth that another conventional method of attaching a carpet to a plastic component is by means of an adhesive. An article is first molded and a carpet is pre-cut to the desired shape. The carpet is affixed to the plastic in a secondary operation. During this secondary operation the adhesive is placed on one or both surfaces to be bonded. The alignment and placement of carpet is difficult and not exact. The process requires substantial labor and time which makes this process less attractive for automotive manufacturing.
While not particularly mentioned by Hawkins, edge wrapping the carpet onto the rear side of a hollow substrate, such as a blow molded substrate, may be particularly problematic due to the increased thickness of the substrate. What is needed is an edge wrapping structure and method for a hollow substrate, such as a blow molded substrate, which allow a decorative covering to extend onto the rear side of the substrate and be wrapped thereon without puckering of the decorative covering in the corners and with a seam in the corners provided at a repeatable location.